Monday, September 03, 2007

 

Getting down to basics on the Superferry fiasco -- and more on Framing and what to do with the Superferry


by Larry Geller

The dailies are still running Superferry letters, although it looks like actual "new" news is tapering off. I've been wondering how many letters the papers actually are receiving on this subject and how they are sorting out which ones get printed.

If you'd rather read something more substantial, click on over to this post on Ian Lind's blog: Sunday…Still mostly Superferry. I learned more reading that one post than I thought was left to learn. Especially more than the Sunday "hot seat" blog summary Hawaii Superferry answers on past, present, future. Try your "reading between the lines" skills on that one, ignoring exactly what was said and trying to figure out the particular "frame."

The Superferry came with a huge investment, real big money--so we know that the story is far from over.

Most recently the papers report/speculate a bit on how some stranded ferry riders and their vehicles will be repatriated (e.g., Advertiser: Ferry may pick up travelers stranded on Maui). It should have been obvious that this would happen, and no doubt passengers were aware of the possibility. If only the ferry operators were better prepared to handle the inevitable.



For more on framing, try googling George Lakoff. Here are a few short Lakoff snips:
Language always comes with what is called "framing." Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework.
This one illustrates how framing is used by politicians:
Here's another example of how powerful framing is. In Arnold Schwarzenegger's acceptance speech, he said, "When the people win, politics as usual loses." What's that about? Well, he knows that he's going to face a Democratic legislature, so what he has done is frame himself and also Republican politicians as the people, while framing Democratic politicians as politics as usual — in advance. The Democratic legislators won't know what hit them. They're automatically framed as enemies of the people.




Meanwhile, some more names have come in via email for a potential restaurant/club should the Superferry decide to tie up at the docks and use its facilities (favorably rated by most reviewers) to serve up food or drinks (hey, it's ok to use comments, folks!). Here they are:

Club Titanic

Nowhereland

Moby Dick Ocean Bar

On the Rocks Cafe

If they can show movies, all the better. Remember, free parking is included.


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